Sponge to Expunge
by KeJae
Summary: Leading a mission, Theo has to clean in order to complete Operation Sponge to Expunge. Neal in his Agent Larkin mode provides support and even Percy aids in protecting the Nation's security.


**Sponge to Expunge**

* * *

Stopping with the traffic, Theo eyed the building to his right. It was a tall office building used to house a large technological corporation. They were known for their advancements in data storage and program designs. Which was why they were a problem, they were merging their data storage and program designs in a way that made them a threat.

Moving forwards with the traffic, he drove around the block and entered the backside of the complex to find the employee parking lot. Stepping out of the taxi, he moved around to the back seat and picked up his case. It was a boxy take on a brief case, but that was because it didn't contain papers.

Walking up to the back door he knocked with a random pattern not feeling the need for anything in particular. It wasn't like the people letting him in were going to understand any extra efforts. They were plebian after all.

After several minutes and three efforts to knock for entrance, Theo was relieved to have the door opened to reveal a sandy haired man dully staring back at him. Before he could introduce himself, the man turned to yell at some unfortunate underling about making sure they mopped the hall from one side to the other and were not just hitting the middle. Turning back, the man grunted for him to introduce himself.

"I'm Bob, the boss said I should be here at seven." He kept it brief and to the point. The man seemed to be bored already as he ushered him in and started into his practiced spiel.

Ignoring most of it, as Theo had done such jobs before, he knew what to expect, but he needed to get the feel for the environment he would be working in. In general, it was pretty basic. The job was officially to get the building clean in a quick and efficient manner. However, there was the underlying politics that meant he was to be unobserved by the staff who worked in the building, he was the fall guy for any of the boss's deficiencies, and he was likely to be the laughing stock of his fellow employees since he was doing a demeaning job without the excuse of needing college money.

Still, there were reasons he did such work. He loved the ease of access the work afforded to some of the most secure buildings in the city. Gaining entry started with creating a back story for his character and then giving it to Neal for the artwork of forging IDs and any documents necessary to prove his existence. A little light finger work, a few bribes, and perhaps some online hacking and he would be all set to step into someone else's shoes. With the character created, he then picked his company of choice and filled out a resume. The interviews were snoozeville easy, but then, the job wasn't usually something that required much intellect. All he had to do was push a vacuum or mop, scrub a few toilets, and maybe collect some trash. If he had a usable identity already available, it was as easy as three steps. Application, interview, and basic background check.

Once he was in the job, no one paid much attention to him which left him free to gather whatever data or to perform whatever act was necessary with ease.

Need to gain hands on access to a medical file, apply to get assigned to the appropriate medical facility and clean. Want to get schematics for a bank's layout, apply and clean. Have to learn a buildings security system, apply and clean. In short, cleaning gave a variety of means to walk in, observe, and sometimes gain direct access to whatever proved necessary.

There were obstacles, but most of them proved to be easily overcome.

At night the building staff either wasn't present or preferred to avoid the cleaning crew taking them mostly out of play. Security was often limited or completely turned off to prevent alarms from being triggered by people cleaning. This left the targets best defense to withholding keys and camera feeds that could be picked, hacked, or bypassed as called for. Things he could easily accomplish under most circumstances.

The cleaning company wasn't a challenge to get around either. It was rare for the boss to show up at a facility unless there was a risk to the contract and they didn't often go into HIPPA Laws or enforce any kind of legal restrictions on access. Perhaps they thought it was implied?

Anyway, the cleaning crews themselves usually had a supervisor to ensure the team was working efficiently and the underlings who actually did the majority of the work. Occasionally someone would take the job seriously and be a little harder to deflect, but even those do-gooders were easily distracted by a monologue on conspiracies or in desperate situations major messes requiring extensive clean up could be concocted in a remote area of the building.

Once the spiel was complete and the directions given, Theo was guided to the supply closet and shown what would be necessary for his duties. Since he was being given an entire section of a floor to clean by himself, he was elated to find the task so easy. Sure, the supervisor would be checking in on him from time to time, but the tracker planted in his pocket and Neal monitoring their security feeds should take care of any checkups.

Going to work, he collected his supplies and stashed his box on the cleaning cart. It didn't look like it would be necessary, but it couldn't hurt to be prepared.

Whistling while he walked, he pushed the cart down the hall, around the corner, and swiped the attached key to get through the doors as he had been shown. Pausing just inside of the door, he looked around and mentally formed his game plan. If he started with the front, he would play into the usual tendency to begin where he was at. It would keep him easy to check on for the first while and hopefully the supervisor would gain enough confidence to leave him alone by the time he reached the back areas. That would give him time to slip away to do his intended job without being noticed.

With his plan in place, he put ear buds in to listen to music and create a cover for his communications with Neal. Then he got started on the nearest desk.

Looking at it, he wasn't impressed by the coffee cup filled with tea, the papers strewn about, or the crumbs littering every nook and cranny. Did this person have any consideration for their space? Sighing, he was disgusted by it, but at least he would only have to clean it once.

Gently shifting the paperwork to the side, he checked the obvious writing to see if there was anything interesting. With a space cleared, he grabbed the cleaner and sprayed the desk before running his cloth along with the wood grains. In an effort to clean the whole space but retain a speedy pace, he touched up the visible edges around the personal effects and left the slob of a resident their hidden filth. Completing one side, he moved the papers back and shifted to the middle where he wiped off the computer monitor and ran a duster acrossed the keyboard. Touching around the open spaces with his rag, he caught the visible mess again before moving to the last side. Repeating the process of shifting the remaining paperwork pile out of his way and wiping off the surface, he then wiped down the front drawers. With the dusting done, he picked up the trash can and dumped the garbage into the large bin he had for collecting. Fortunately, washing dishes wasn't a courtesy this company provided so he left the cup to stain overnight. With that desk done, it was time to move on to the next.

Repeating the process again and again, he was down to the last tedious desk when the supervisor ducked in to check on him.

Pulling out an ear bud, Mozzie pretended to be startled by the man's sudden appearance. "Oh, you scared me."

"How are you doing, Bob?" The supervisor peeked in and started checking the desks over as he walked acrossed the room. "It looks like you've got the basics down." He generally walked along poking around. Pausing at a desk, he lifted things to check closer. "However, you need to get behind these personal items at least once a week. You're paid to clean their desk, not sweep the mess behind the picture frames."

"I can do that. Is there a particular night recommended to do deeper cleaning? Also, are we allotted more time to get the areas, like beneath the personal effects on those nights?" Theo asked. It wasn't like it mattered since he wasn't going to be keeping the job, but at least it looked good to the supervisor and ensured he wouldn't be disturbed as often as if he gave the man reason to be concerned.

"Whatever night works for you, but make sure you do it at least once a week. We are contracted with how much time we can clean the building. Work something out to get the job done efficiently or you'll be looking for work again somewhere else." Despite the threat, the supervisor seemed satisfied with his work and soon wondered off to check up on the other crew members.

Snorting, Theo shook his head at how easy the man was to get rid of. A few simple lines and a basic approach to the work were sufficient.

Continuing to keep up appearances, he moved on to the bathrooms for the area and began working through the toilet stalls first as they were the least appealing part of the work in an effort to get them over with. When he had finished the first bathroom's stalls, he moved to the mirrors and sinks before collecting the trash. With the room about done, he pulled out the mop and bucket to begin cleaning the floor.

'Are you dancing with the mop?' Neal's voice came through the ear buds with a teasing lilt.

"We can't all be graceful people who make mopping something akin to dancing." Theo stated as seriously as he could.

'No, but you're humming as you go which makes me think you might be dancing in your head.' The teasing continued.

"I'm not dancing." Theo reiterated even though he knew it to be a fruitless effort. Neal was bored watching the feeds since there was nothing going on and he still had a bit more work to do before it would be safe enough to disappear without arousing suspicions.

'Incoming. It looks like he sent another cleaner this time.' Neal warned him to change his talking to a poor rendition of lyrics for the first song that sprung into mind.

"Hey, dude. Cut that out! I've been sent to help you and I'm so not listening to that." A rude voice called out as a young red head entered the bathroom.

Pulling out an ear bud again, Theo pretended to be upset by the intrusion. "Seriously? The supervisor said I was doing the job just fine and only suggested doing deeper cleaning once a week. Why do I need your help? Have you been sent to spy on me? Does he think I'm using too much product to clean? Are there cameras on my cleaning cart?" He dropped the mop, pushed past the young man, and headed for the cart waiting in the main area outside.

Reaching his cart, he started rummaging through the supplies while muttering cryptic comments about espionage and infringed rights.

"Okay, dude. There aren't any cameras on the carts. The supervisor just sent me up here to see if you needed any help finishing up your space. We've got most of the areas well on their way and don't want you left behind on your first night." He kept his distance and even put his hands up in a non offensive manner trying to placate Theo.

Turning in a furry, Theo poked the kid in the chest aggressively. "How do you know there aren't any cameras in my cleaning cart? Did you put them there while the supervisor gave me the tour showing me what was expected? Or are you here to play the patsy to his performance?" He ranted on about the perceived intrusion on his privacy and insult on his abilities.

"Chill out, dude. I'm going back upstairs." The guy shifted away and headed for the door.

Following a few steps and calling after him, Theo kept up his rant. "That's right. I can handle my work load just fine. You go back to whatever you were doing and leave me alone!"

Waiving over his shoulder, the guy started muttering things as he left.

'He isn't impressed with you; said some rather inappropriate things as he left there.' Neal commented as he monitored the hallways outside. 'Coast clear. How about getting the job done while you're supposedly searching for cameras and fuming about intrusive bosses?'

"Might as well get it over with. Is everything ready on your end?" He asked Neal about the security.

'The cameras are on repeat to show empty hallways, all of the other cleaning crews are working in other areas and the supervisor is talking on his cell phone in the lower stair well. You're clear to go.' Neal answered accompanied by the clicking of keys as he typed.

"Operation Sponge to Expunge is a go then." Theo took off the cleaning gloves and pulled a small kit from his pocket before donning a different set of gloves to avoid leaving identification behind.

Heading back out into the main hallway, he used a piece of putty to keep the lock from shutting so he could reenter without the key or setting a digital time stamp to show he had left. Then it was a short walk to the stairwell door where he paused.

'Clear, he's still three levels below you and isn't likely to hear based on the yelling he's been doing.' Neal noted the continued location of the supervisor.

Opening the door and slowly helping it to close, Theo softened the noise as best he could to prevent an echo from being heard below. Then he took to the stairs and climbed up three stories in silence.

Pausing just inside the door to the secure floor he needed, Theo pulled a different hair piece from inside his jacket and added contacts in between changing out his glasses. Even though Neal had the system locked, he wasn't going to take any chances. There was a reason he had managed to create and maintain his legendary ability to blend in and remain hidden. A quick reversal of his jacket and a hat finished the costume.

Once he was ready, he opened the door and strolled down the hall like he was supposed to be there.

When he reached the data vault, he opened his kit and put a false finger pad on his gloved thumb before rubbing it on the scanner to use the necessary finger print. The retinal scanner worked off of the contacts, and a recorded message passed the voice specific password. With the security measures beat the door clicked unlocked and easily swung open.

Entering the room, Theo listened as Neal directed him to the necessary console where he accessed the system, flipped out the attached computer, and woke up the screen.

Pulling his little pocket kit out again, Theo used a cord to connect the computer to his glasses. A few keyed commands and he had the data he needed streaming into the hidden memory chip embedded in the frame.

After a few minutes when it had finished downloading, he transferred the cord into the other side where he dropped a virus into their system to scrub evidence of his presence and destroy any record of the program that was detrimental to national security.

With the job done, he removed the cord and wound it back into its place. Closing the computer back up into the system and closing the door behind him, Theo was glad to have the primary purpose of his evening complete. Now all he had to do was finish cleaning before creating a reason to avoid coming back the next night.

Reversing his process, he stopped in the stairwell to remove the additions to his costume and then snuck back down to his assigned floor. The voice of the supervisor seemed to have calmed down below, but he was still talking and traceable enough to know he was distracted. Reaching the door to his section of offices, Theo opened the door and picked his putty out of the lock.

Arriving back at his cart, he dropped the putty into the trash so it would fall down amidst the other wastes. Then he picked up the mop and went back to work finishing the space while whistling as he had been before he was interrupted.

Finishing the first bathroom, he moved to the second bathroom and started working through it as well.

'Company is going to be coming up shortly according to the conversations going on down stairs. The supervisor has sent another cleaner up to check on you, but the first warned them so they're putting it off. I'll let Percy out in preparation.' Neal came in through his ear buds. With the mission almost complete, he had settled back and become more serious.

"Give him some good play time. He enjoys exploring new spaces." Theo commented while wiping down the sink and counter area. Then he paused to raise his hand towards the air like Neal was present to see his physical movement. "Don't forget to have the cheese waiting for him when we get back."

'The cheese is chilling and I've collected a few extra treats I think he will like as reward. If he pulls this off, he can even take more of it with him.' Neal commented from where he was waiting for them back at the loft.

"Don't mock Percy. He will pull this off just fine and you know it!" Theo defended his beloved pet while frowning at his friend's words. "I've trained him well and he has never failed me in a training session."

'Alright, Moz. You know I don't doubt Percy anything of his ability to behave like a rat. It's the reaction of the cleaner that is less predictable.' Neal tried to pacify him.

Calming down, Theo allowed it to work knowing his friend wasn't one of those to make fun of his methods. He was always willing to tease, but never seriously doubt. "Good. You know I don't like agents questioning my methods, especially if they haven't seen me in action to know what they're talking about."

Chuckling, Neal was probably thinking about many situations he had witnessed. 'I wouldn't be that foolish. You know I've worked with you for many years now and I've seen how well you manage to pull off the seemingly impossible. Of course this Percy is as well trained as every other Percy you've brought into the field. This is just his first active mission in the field so it's easy to want extra incentives in our favor.'

"Percy the fourth is as skilled as his grandfather, and he might prove to be better at sniffing out the cheese. His last time through the maze matched the best his predecessors have ever achieved." Theo shared several of his notes about his latest trainee with the pride of a happy father.

'Uh-huh, I've watched him go through the maze and other challenges, was even present when he made the record. I know you were more focused on his accomplishment, but you might recall me toasting with you to your mutual success.' Neal mused in an amicable tone.

Pausing a moment in his mopping to think through what had happened, Theo grunted when he remembered the rest of the scene. "And he appreciated that toast."

'You're apology is accepted.' Neal smiled before redirecting their attention to the approaching crew member. 'Good, it's a young woman, so she's more likely to react to Percy in a dramatic way. That ought to help sell the show.'

"I'm just finishing up the mopping so I can easily use vacuuming as an excuse to chase after a rat sighting." Theo mused as he finished mopping the final bathroom.

With the job nearing done, he pushed the mop and bucket back before he reattached it to the larger cleaning cart. Then pushing the thing over all, he walked out into the main room slightly before the young woman opened the door and walked in to check on him.

Screaming as she caught sight of Percy's tail disappearing underneath a desk, she looked over at Theo with large eyes. "Did you see that? A rat just ran beneath that desk!"

"A rat?" Theo pretended to be just as surprised as her. "I hate rats! They carry diseases and are dirty. Did you know that rabies is not the only thing they are known to carry?" He started shuffling through his cart pretending to panic looking for something to combat the threat with.

"The broom, grab a broom! That's best for scaring them off." She panicked as she tried to get a better view while retaining a distance. In response to Theo's ramblings about the potential diseases they could be getting exposure to, she was also running her hands together and then trying to wrap her arms around in front of her as protective measures.

Grabbing the broom as instructed, Theo then darted towards the desk from the same side she was on giving Percy the chance to escape out the other side.

With his job done, Neal opened the door and issued the signal to call Percy back to his portable home in the case.

Continuing to poke the broom under the desk and hollering for the girl to say if she saw anything, Theo kept her attention on him so she missed the trip it took Percy to get back to safety.

When it was growing obvious that there wasn't anything underneath the desk anymore, Theo turned to speak to her before shouting and pointing to a desk behind her indicating the presence of another rat in the room. Giving the illusion of an infestation, he started to send her into a panic before she turned and started towards the door.

"I'm going to vacuum as quickly as I can and then get out of here. Who needs exposure to rats? This isn't supposed to be a sewer or something; we're supposed to be in some kind of office building. There aren't supposed to be rats!" He put the broom back onto the cart roughly before yanking the vacuum off of the other side.

Plugging it in, he started vacuuming erratically in an effort to show speed and yet an attempt to complete his work.

Leaving him to it, she darted off with a call over her shoulder that she would go tell the supervisor.

Laughing to himself once he was alone again, Theo slowed down and did a more methodical job. Although he didn't want there to be a question for why he left, he also didn't want to draw too much attention for when the company discovered what he had done in their database.

It didn't take long to run the vacuum through the space and he was soon finished.

'Supervisor is incoming. He appears to be coming to check on the rat sighting. I've let Percy out again so he should be able to confirm the sighting himself.' Neal warned a few moments before the man burst through the door coming to check on him.

"I hear there have been rat sightings up here?" He questioned as he started looking around for himself.

Picking up his excited tone again, Theo put extra effort into having trouble putting the vacuum away on the cart. "There are rats! That girl and I both saw them. One went under the desk here while another was in the shadows of the desk over there." He helpfully pointed out exactly which ones were in question.

Grabbing the broom for himself, the supervisor took a few pokes into the shadows, but didn't seem convinced. Moving about the room, he tried to see if there were any tell tale signs indicative of a rat's presence in the room.

At first he didn't have any luck and seemed to be leaning towards the rats being imaginary, but then he also saw a tail and moved quickly trying to see it better. Only getting a glimpse of brown before Percy ducked behind a file cabinet, it was enough to convince him of their story. "I see him. A big fella too. The bosses will want to know about this and the company will likely get exterminators to comb the place through. It will take a few days, but they'll remove any that might be coming up." He took the news like it was a common occurrence in his experience.

"Rats!" Theo shuddered while running his hands together in mimicry of the girl's earlier behavior. "Do you know how many diseases I've probably been exposed to tonight? These jobs are supposed to be safe! It's not like this is the basement or some back warehouse, this is an office building!"

"Don't get all upset about it. This is New York, so that rat may be a large one, but he's nothing compared to the sewer rats. My cousin works for the city, and he's told me stories. Did you ever hear about…" The man seemed to enjoy telling his stories despite the discomfort he appeared to be causing.

'Percy is back in the box again.' Neal confirmed in between laughing at what stories could be coming.

"Stop! I don't want to hear about it. You can put the cart away. The job is done, but I'm getting out of here!" Theo grabbed his box off of the cart and pushed it towards the supervisor. Then shuddering, he stormed towards the door and left in a rush.

Walking to the elevator, he pushed the button ignoring Neal's complaint.

'Ahh, come one. I wanted to hear his story. Maybe I could tease Jones about it at the office tomorrow? I hear he has a fear of rats. Peter would wonder at my choice of topic at the very least, but it could be fun. You're cramping my conversation topics!' Neal whined.

"You'll get over it. It's not like you couldn't come up with plenty of rat stories from your own experience. Didn't you encounter a whole nest of them that time Orion took you to one of his older safe houses in the city? An abandoned closet in the old subway lines wasn't it?" Neal had been teasing him throughout the evening so it was time to even the score.

'Ha-ha, aren't we feeling hurtful? That was horrible and you know it. Talk about rats and being exposed to unimaginable diseases!' Neal started muttering as the memory made him shiver.

Humming to himself, Theo stepped into the elevator when the doors opened and punched the number for the ground floor.

Within a short time he had let himself out the back door, and was back into traffic driving his cab over to Neal's.

Pulling up in front of the mansion, he locked his taxi and carried Percy up to the door. Greeting June as he entered, he gave her story about bringing Percy over to sample some cheeses while he drank some of Neal's wine. It was a viable excuse for having the rat and politely gave reason for June not joining them. Although she could somewhat tolerate Percy, the fine lady was still not a fan of rats and preferred to keep her distance.

Taking the three flights of stairs in stride, Mozzie was relieved to have the evening over and his job completed. Once he did the handoff transferring the data to Neal and they submitted their reports, he was done with the operation. The rest of the work would be for Neal to encode the data before transferring it to his contact in Washington.

Knocking on the door in the previously agreed upon meter, Theo was glad to be back amongst his own kind.

As soon as Neal opened the door, Theo passed him the glasses and kit before heading straight for the table to sit Percy's case down. Putting his other glasses back on, he moved to the fridge and grabbed the cheese before working at the counter to collect the other treats.

Keeping himself occupied, Theo arranged the treats on a small plate while Neal finished attaching the cord to his computer and began the process of downloading the data. When the data had streamed through his coding program, he compiled it into a compressed message and sent it off.

Once he finished making the arrangement for Percy, Theo sat the plate on the table and opened the hatch releasing the rat to his feast.

Percy quickly found his way to the plate and sniffed the contents over. Picking his first treat, he bit in to lift the cube up before settling back on his haunches to eat it.

Leaving the rodent to his well deserved pleasure, Theo moved for the wine rack. Selecting his bottle of choice, retrieving glasses, and beginning the pouring, he started preparing for him and Neal.

With the data secure, Neal changed programs and began the process of typing up their mission reports.

Throwing in his perspective, Theo grabbed some additional food for them from the fridge and cupboards. Working to prepare the meal and type up their reports, he and Neal divided the wrap up work and prepared for their post operation feeding.

Closing the computer when the reports were submitted, Neal startled Percy with his noise.

Petting the rat into a more complacent attitude again, Theo got him settled back into his grooming before he helped Neal retrieve their food and drinks from the counter.

Settling into enjoy their meal while watching Percy work through grooming his back, the two friends started into their post mission routine.

Neal lifted up his glass and looked at it in the light. "So, what hypothetical conversation are we having tonight?"

Tilting his glass toward Neal, Theo toasted him. "Here's to another mission successfully completed, Agent Larkin."

Clinking his glass in return, Neal toasted back. "And here's to many more successful missions yet to come, Agent Winters."

Leaning back in their chairs to eat the food and enjoy their drinks, they started the next portion of their evening with a hypothetical conversation about what stories might have been brought up had the supervisor been allowed to tell his tales of sewer rats to keep their minds occupied while they wound down.

* * *

Thank you everyone for reading :D

This is a birthday fic in honor of Quinis and our continued online correspondence :D I spent the better part of two years doing a cleaning job so at times she had requested me to put that into use by portraying Mozzie on one of his cleaning runs in relation to a mission as Winters or in support to a case for Neal and Peter. Although I no longer work in this particular industry, I thought it was a good concept to play with and chose her birthday to fulfill her request.


End file.
